Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking the question, under current processing conditions is an IR-1 or CR-1 Visa optimal compared to say the K-1 Fiancé Visa? Understand the K-3 Marriage Visa was created under the Life Act under President Clinton; it was created for a specific purpose. I'm making a specific video contemporaneously with this one where I will get into the analysis of the K-3 specifically. This video is talking about a comparison between the K-1 Fiancé Visa and the CR-1 or IR-1 Immigrant Spouse Visas. 

So the difference between these two is on a CR-1 or IR-1 Spouse Visa, the spouse enters the United States in Lawful Permanent Resident status so from the time they are stamped in, they're effectively green carded at entry. Now the downside of this type of Visa is it requires preliminaries, and it actually has a longer processing time compared to the K-1 Visa, but the reason is in a sense the K-1 Visa is only half of the process - I'll get into that in a moment. But long story short with regard to the IR-1 or CR-1 Immigrant Spousal Visas, they enter in Lawful Permanent Resident status but understand, processing time usually takes longer to get these visas because you have to deal with the National Visa Center for longer. On top of that, it's just kind of generally the backlog has tended to move slower on these because there tend to be more of these because you're also in there with spouses of Lawful Permanent Residents and things whereas into K-1 “line” if you will, you're only dealing with fiancés of American citizens; that changes the composition a little bit. 

As I said before though, the K-1 is effectively the first half of the process if the ultimate goal is to get a Green Card. Now in many cases, K-1 Fiancé Visas are optimal for most folks because they want to get their loved one into the United States as fast as possible, then they can deal with the resident status once there. With the CR-1 or IR-1, you enter with the resident status, so it is sort of a “better” status from entry, but understand, it can take longer to get that. Another thing to keep in mind, Thai Marriage Registration - when looking at it purely from the Thailand perspective - we are talking about a situation where it could take an extra 6 or 8 weeks on top of the overall processing time for the Visa just to be married in order to be eligible to apply for the Visa. The cost associated with an Immigrant Spouse Visa are also higher - I mean in terms of Attorney's fees, in terms of other types of fees it's generally higher - so you need to compare and contrast. If you're not already married, it's not a foregone conclusion that it's necessarily better to get married in terms of the outcome from a US Immigration context which basically leaves you with well then how do I decide?

Look, you need to make decisions based on the prevailing facts in your given case. For those who are overwhelmed by this, it's not a terrible idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.